Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-06-11
BOOkW VIEWS.
WHAT He HAS TO SAY ON SOME
ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
The Wheat supply of the Wor a His
Principal T"pic-H. Pears AN ira OF
Depression in a Comparatively short
Time->orne Other Matters.


Tim-->ome other Matters.
Special Corr,Spondencel
NEW YORK. June G-H Hon. John " Book
walter, the well known millionaire manufac-
turer of Springfield. o, in this cIry the
other day, and enjoyed the renewal OF an
Old acquaintance with HIM, begun when We
were classmates in the good old times before
the war Mr.. Bookwalter has Travelled
much abroad and studied economic questions
carefully. He has in consequence written
many articles for financial Journals in Lon
don and New York, which have attracted
much attention. At present he is deyo,ing
all his energies 10 the development Of rail
WAYS aud other industries IN southeastern
Nebraska and northeastern Kansas. where he
owns "A little tract Of 60,uoU acres as he
calls it. Only a few years ago it was a vast
sheep ranch; but already the land has grown
too valuable to be used for grazing purposes
only. and dairying and other industries are
increasing.
Il reasoned the matter thus says Mr.. b,
when | bought that tract l remembered
that in 1850 81 my father went from Ills place
III Shawnee fountain county. Ind ! with a
view of investing a few hundred dollars in
lllllbis. he Sdilt back Win us money anu
said: Oh, it viii never amount to
anything in my children's time-tbere's
millions on millions Of country out
there-it won't t- filed up for d century So
said my father in ls55 Now all that area
he turned his back on is worth from $50 10
Sd0 an acre. Then the land untaken was a
big strip and tsat settled little one-it WAS
three to one, BY my time the thret to one
s,l..
big piece, the unsettled a little one. Sol
said, If this proportion has changed in my
time, how much more rapidly Will the little
strip gor Its going fast. the good land at
the disposal of this government is very nearly
exhausted"
w ell, when it Is suppose tie land owning
farmers viii have 1t all their own way.r
oh, not at all-that is, for several Years,
In fact there are forces now in action that
bid fair TO depre>s the 'arming industry in
this country for several years, and when
farming is depressed everything else soon
will be. The fact is our farmers and Iegisla-
tors have made two or three tremendous mis-
takes M estimating the markets Of the " aid
Did IL never strike you as a curious fac, that
the years We had the biggest wheat crops were
invariably the Years iH which We got tie test
Indeed, II WAS invariably ~ till 1872 Then
these new forces of which | speak beCan to
take effect, and since then, with minor tiuctu-
atiohs, Of course, the price of farm produce
has steadily tend-d downward And for
aught can see. 1t will stay low or go lower
for several years--indsoi, until there is all
other revolution ia the worlds trade: but
that is 20 many years ahead that no sensible |
man will prophecy about it"
PLEASE explain.
That is easily done There is deal Of hu-
man nature in an Englishman-he wants 10 |
s.li ~bers he buys and buy where Le sells |
81 he has been developing the wheat and cot |
ton supply In other countries, so he could buy |
his supplies with what he had TO sell The re
suit has been an enormous DEVELOPMENT in |
India, and considerable in the Argentine Re
public and elsewhere. The first shipment of
wheat from India to England was few hun
dred bushels-a trial cargo. In 1875 the ship
ment was ,5OO, 900 bushels; in 1876 ( O,1 900
bushels, and in 1875, L, OuU go; then il fell OF
for year or two. The second growth WAS
enormous; in lssJ-Sl il was Is UOO. 90. the
next year, 81, ,OcO,tUu. and now il hears 80
OuU,uOO. Just think how that knocks down
the American farmers price. Then compare
that increase with the decreasing scale Of
wheat prices in New York Ii the increase
continues even five years there will lie no for
eign market whatever for American wheat.
ami the price Will gC down to-well you can
calculate for yourself the value Of all article
OF which there u an enormous surplus and
no demand for it The Chicago men may de-
ceive themselves for awhile with the idea
that they can maintain prices by holding iO,-
ucu,UJO bushels OF so in the elevators, but they
do not deceive any man ia the worlds
market That 10000, 90 is taken into account
every day Ia the British market: il is lust
as much a factor in holding down the prir.
III London and Liverpool il it were OH
open sale right there: for those fellow reason
very justly that nobody knows Just when the
whole combination will break and 40 90 uo1
bushes Of wheat he poured on the market.
No, those fellows are making just the sante
mistake the bonanza men of Nevada and the
silver seuators Of Colorado made about the
silver dollar. These men thought that by
storing up e,o0U, 900 or more a month in the
treasury they would create artificial scar
city Of silver and SO appreciate the silver
dollar, hut every tinancier in Europe knows
that III u sudden emergency, like war for in
stance, all that Tiger would come fiying ont
VI the government vaults, and therefore il is
taken INTO account Just as much as il IL were Il
On sale Ih London or Berlin For the matter
of that, however, II they wanted 10 appreci-
ate silver, their true policy would have been
10 make the silver dollar equal to the gold
Tor making light Wei hit or 81 cent dollar (
Is just the saIne as adding Is per cent Of the
amou,t tC the free silver in the worlds mar {
ket No, the trade of the world is too big a :
thire for any one man nation TO catch
We must trade according to the laws of Trade |
IN the world a whole or suffer the cunss.-
luenceS."
But we've got 'em ON the come out. as |
Jonas Harrison says IN Eggleston's Hoosier e
novel We have a new continent to work on. {
and they h
oh, there the great error-the champion c
American t1ror-this idea that the eastern 1
ointment Is exhausted, over populated Its d
fr:ehtfni b!unier Why, in India alone are l
D,ooc square miles Of fertile land capable Of I
Exclamation. la the Punjaub alone are $1,000
auare miles Of such land In the northwest
PROVINCES and Dude are over 5000 square o
niles. The Sirhind canal. opened few Ii
ears ago, added over .0OU, 800 acre, to the 1
wheat growing area. Some Of the British u
,fficials in India estimate the reclaimahIe Il
Irea at l5u,u1 square miles; and YOU must re-
member another thing, that while American
armers eat nearly half the wheat they pro- q
luce, nearly all that produced in India i,
yallable for export
As hpwt 10 they live ON airf~
NO. They ave on rice and ulllet chiefly.